Devin Gorder (centre) with other men's bracket winners Andreas Bohn and Stefan Graner after the pickleball tournament at the Alfred Jenkins Fiend House. (submitted photo/Prince Albert Pickelball)

By Rob Mahon

Successful Pickleball Tournament

Prince Albert’s first pickleball tournament a big hit

Mar 28, 2023 | 12:19 PM

The Prince Albert Pickleball Club held its first-ever tournament over the weekend. Based on how well the event went, it won’t be long before they’re preparing for their second.

“It was perfect, we had a fantastic day,” said Devin Gorder, tournament organizer and eventual champion of the men’s side. “Everything ran really smoothly. We were probably a little bit ahead of schedule from what we expected. Everybody showed up and we didn’t have anything returned as far as unhappy players or negative feedback.”

The tournament featured regulars from the Prince Albert Pickleball Club, but as they started to open up more spots, other players from farther afield started to fill them. Two players from Regina made their way up to Prince Albert for the tournament.

“They thought the event went great as far as having our first one,” Gorder said. “One guy had been to 40 different tournaments and he really liked the format of ours, how smoothly it went. As far as for us putting on our first one, we were really excited to do it and we’re really happy with the outcome of the whole thing.”

Planning is already underway for the next tournament in Prince Albert, and Gorder said they started talking about it before the first tournament was even over. The next tournament will be in the fall, and this time around they’ll open up even more spots.

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“We started with 30 (people) and went to 50 for this event,” Gorder said. “Next time we’re looking for sure at 75 and who knows, maybe we’ll go for 100? It was a single-day tournament so there is a really good possibility we turn it into a two-day tournament.”

Statistically, pickleball has been among the fastest-growing sports in North America for some time, and it’s been growing rapidly in Prince Albert as well. But it’s one thing to know the stats on the growth of a sport, and another to see that growth for yourself up close.

“It was really cool,” Gorder said. “We did have other people stop into the centre there and just watch for a bit. I spoke to a couple of people that were interested in coming out and playing, new players, a couple of people that had just moved to the area.”

Gorder added by the time they got to the medal round of the tournament they had family members and other spectators cheering them on. Gorder was the men’s overall winner, while Carlena Bulicz was the women’s overall winner.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP